What the letters actually mean
Internet Protocol Television. IP is the same addressing protocol that carries every other kind of internet traffic. A channel delivered by IPTV travels across the network exactly the way this page does — there is simply a great deal more of it, and it must not arrive late.
That last requirement is the whole story. A web page two seconds late is a slow page. A broadcast two seconds late is a frozen picture. Everything that is difficult about IPTV follows from it.
The word says nothing about who is broadcasting, whether they are entitled to, or whether the service is any good. It is about as informative as knowing a parcel arrived by lorry.
Two completely different things are called IPTV
This distinction is almost never explained, and it determines nearly everything else.
| Operator's IPTV | IPTV over the open internet | |
|---|---|---|
| Who delivers it | Your broadband provider, inside its own network | A service somewhere on the internet |
| How it is sent | Multicast — one broadcast reaches every viewer | Unicast — a separate stream per viewer |
| Counts against a data cap | Often not; the traffic never leaves the operator | Yes, every gigabyte |
| Quality at peak time | Steady — capacity is reserved | Varies with load |
| Needs a dedicated box | Almost always, supplied by the operator | No, an app is usually enough |
| Portable | No, tied to the line | Yes, works anywhere |
Multicast means the broadcast is sent once and copied out in the network wherever paths diverge. Ten thousand viewers on one channel cost roughly the bandwidth of one. That is why an operator's IPTV does not degrade when many people watch.
Unicast means every viewer gets a private copy all the way from the source. Ten thousand viewers cost ten thousand times as much. That is why a service over the open internet can be flawless on a Tuesday afternoon and stutter during a big match.
When someone asks why the picture only breaks up in the evening, the answer is almost always that they are on a unicast service whose capacity covers ordinary use but not the peak. There is no setting on the television that changes that.
Compared with aerial, cable and satellite
The older delivery methods share one property: every channel is transmitted all the time, to everyone, whether or not anyone is watching. The receiver simply picks one. That makes them indifferent to how many people are watching and to what the neighbours are doing with their broadband.
| Terrestrial | Cable | Satellite | IPTV | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Carrier | Radio waves | Coaxial cable | Satellite | Internet connection |
| All channels sent constantly | Yes | Yes | Yes | No, only the one selected |
| Affected by other network use | No | No | No | Yes |
| Affected by weather | Slightly | No | Yes, heavy rain | No |
| Practical channel ceiling | Limited by spectrum | Limited by the cable | Large | Effectively none |
| Needs installation work | Aerial | Wall socket | Dish | No |
That last row is the commercial reason IPTV exists. Nobody has to run a new cable, drill through a wall or negotiate with a building's management. What is already in the wall is enough.
The drawback is the same fact from the other side. A cable socket does not care that someone in the house is downloading a 90 GB game. IPTV cares, every time.
Is IPTV the same as streaming?
The words overlap, and in everyday use they are interchangeable. The distinction that still means something is linear versus on-demand.
- Linear — the channel runs to a schedule. Join late and you have missed the start. This is what IPTV traditionally means, and it is why a programme guide belongs to it.
- On-demand — you pick the title and the moment. Netflix, iPlayer, HBO Max. No schedule, no EPG.
Most IPTV subscriptions contain both: a channel list with a schedule, plus a library of films and series. Having an on-demand library does not stop something being IPTV.
A third term has emerged in recent years: FAST, Free Ad-supported Streaming Television. Linear channels, free to the viewer, funded by advertising — Pluto TV and the like. Technically it is IPTV.
What it means in practice
If you have read this far because you are considering getting something, three things follow from the technology:
- Your connection sets the ceiling. Roughly 8 Mbit/s reaching the device for Full HD, about 25 for 4K. What the package is called matters less than what arrives.
- The data is real. An evening of Full HD is around 11 GB. With a data cap that is a problem worth knowing about in advance.
- The technology says nothing about legality. That is decided by the rights to the content, not by how it travels. See is IPTV legal.
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Frequently asked questions
What is IPTV in simple terms?
Is IPTV the same as streaming?
Is Netflix IPTV?
What is the difference between IPTV and cable TV?
Do I need a special TV for IPTV?
Sources
- RFC 8216 — HTTP Live Streaming — IETF
- CJEU, Case C-527/15 (Stichting Brein v Wullems, "Filmspeler") — judgment of 26 April 2017